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ACCEPT – LGBT CYPRUS MET WITH PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE STAVROS MALAS

Posted by costas on Thursday, 30 November 2017

A delegation from Accept – LGBT Cyprus met on Monday 27 November with the Presidential Candidate Mr. Stavros Malas to discuss the difficulties faced by the LGBTI people in Cyprus today. Additionally, the Presidential Candidate’s programmatic positions where presented to the organization.

Specifically, Mr. Malas presented 6 points for the LGBTI community which have been incorporated into his programmatic positions, analysing the ways that these will be implemented in case he succeeds in winning the upcoming presidential elections:

Bill for the safeguarding of the right to legal gender recognition, based on the guidelines of the Council of Europe and the Judgments of the European Court of Human Rights.

Creation of a National Committee and the drawing up of a national action plan to combat discrimination against LGBTI.

Strengthening and enforcing legislation on homophobic and transphobic hate speech.

Measures to combat discrimination against LGBTI in employment and work.

Ending discrimination in adoption and in vitro fertilisation.

Initiatives at European level for the development of an integrated EU policy on combating homophobia protecting the fundamental rights of LGBTI.

On behalf of the organisation, the President of Accept-LGBT Cyprus, Mr. Costas Gavrielides, thanked Mr. Malas for his positions, stressing that they are an important part of the solution for problems relating to the LGBTI community. He also noted that Mr. Malas is the first presidential candidate to publicly announce specific measures relating to the LGBTI community, expressing hope that soon all presidential candidates will announce the plans.

Regarding the issue of legal recognition of gender identity, which aims, among other things, to help trans people live freely in the gender in which they recognise they belong to, a draft bill was presented to Mr. Malas prepared by international and Cypriot lawyers and experts with the active support of the Council of Europe. This is expected to be completed by the end of December.

The organisation also informed Mr. Malas about the meeting recently held with the Minister of Justice Mr. Nicolaou, as well as the recent meeting with the Director General of the Ministry of Labour Mr. Assiotis regarding ways to combat discrimination in the workplace.